WHO AM I?My name is Alana Edwards. I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina when I was six years old. There, I attended Northwest School of the Arts and participated in the Scholastics Art and Writing Competition in which I won six regional gold and silver keys and one national gold medal. I am currently in my third year at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Craft & Material Studies department studying textiles. I got my start as an artist at a young age when I was gifted an art desk for Christmas, and I have continued to learn about and practice art ever since.

Themes and objects present in my work have shifted between portraits, feminism, race, vibrant colors, physical relationships in space, geometric shapes, and abstractions. Currently, my work is all about learning. I am exploring my relationship with art, and what I think the definition of art is. The majority of my work lately has been the result of me playing with new mediums, techniques, and styles as I try to figure out what I want to do after graduation. As my art evolves and changes, so do my artistic influences. Recently, I find myself drawing inspiration from experimental and colorful artists such as Jen Mann, Ambera Wellman, Klara Lilja, Sonya Clark, the Low Bros, and the friends I create with. My work mainly consists, of drawings, paintings, and textiles.

​At VCU, I’ve had the opportunity to showcase my work in the 2017 and 2018 VCU Arts Juried Fine Arts Undergraduate Student Exhibition, the VCU Department of African American Studies Open House Art Show, the VCU Department of Gender Sexuality and Women's Studies Open House Art Show, the 2017 B.A.S.E. exhibition Reclaiming Our Time: Roots of Me, student curated exhibition Twice as Hard, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art's annual juried exhibition New Waves 2018 in which I won the People’s Choice Award, Workhouse Art Center's annual juried exhibition Fiber National 2018, and have had work published in VCU's Amendment Literary and Art Journal,and Falmouth University's SUBCULTURE Online.